July
03, 2012 "Information
Clearing House"
-- Muammar Qaddafi is dead and the Al Fateh revolution has
been rolled back. Two months after his death, on October
2011, the imperialists, in collaboration with the Salafists
in Tripoli and Khartoum, orchestrated the assassination of
the revolutionary leader of the Sudanese Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM), Dr Khalid Ibrahim. On a recent
visit to Tripoli, president of Sudan, Omar Bashir,
congratulated the Libyan NTC and said that 'Qaddafi's death
is the best thing that could have happened to the people of
Sudan'. When the chairman of the NTC, Mustafa Jalil,
recently visited Sudan, Bashir once again sank into
absurdity, claiming that 'Sudan has experienced no harm,
even from the colonial nations, like the injury caused by
Qaddafi and his group.' Bashir certainly wasn't speaking for
South Sudan, nor even for some parts of the north. He was
speaking only for those Sudanese who support the National
Congress Party, which he leads, and their program to promote
Arab hegemony.

NATO
backed Salafist militias are working with Bashir's military
to seal the Sudanese- Libyan border, and are engaged in a
joint military effort to fight pro-Qaddafi Tuaregs and JEM
fighters operating in the region. JEM's leader, the late Dr
Khalid Muhammad, was residing in Libya prior to and during
the NATO invasion. Khartoum wanted Qaddafi to hand over
Khalid Muhammad who was wanted by the Bashir regime. Qaddafi
of course refused. He had for many years assisted the
African fighters in Southern Sudan and those operating in
the Darfur area in their legitimate struggle against the
ethnic and religious chauvinists in Khartoum. This fuelled
Khartoum's hatred of Qaddafi, because Qaddafi openly
supported the struggle being waged against the Bashir
regime, and also they hated Qaddafi's Islam – an Islam that
promotes justice, equality and peace – hence the name JEM
(Justice and Equality Movement).

A few
weeks after Qaddafi's death, the Justice and Equality
Movement, based in the Darfur region, joined forces with the
Sudanese Peoples' Liberation Movement (North), and two other
liberation organizations to form the Sudanese Revolutionary
Front, with the aim of toppling the Khartoum regime.
Strangely enough, when Bashir visited NATO controlled Libya,
no attempt was made to instruct the NTC to hand him over to
the International Criminal Court, although only months ago
the US was making a big fuss about the fact that other
African regimes had allowed Bashir to land on their soil and
had not handed him over. Of course, the imperialists change
their allegiances at the drop of a hat – Mubarak is a good
example of that. That is at least one thing that we can
agree on: that throughout the terrible 'White Ages', the
politics of the North Atlantic Tribes has always been based
on expedience rather than being rooted in moral principles.
Their relationships are always based solely on how best the
relationship can further Euro/American interests and
objectives and they will make a pact with the any demon when
and where necessary – I think we can all agree on that
self-evident truth. And we must never forget that their
objective is always the same – unchanging – to dominate
Africa and the rest of the global south, in order that they
can continue to plunder our vast resources, enabling them to
live their irrational, spiritually bankrupt and
unsustainable life style – end of story. We are nothing to
them – mere pawns in their game – no more than a bit of
collateral damage in their way. Their worldview was
perfectly illustrated when Lesley Stahl of CBS asked former
US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, the following
question:

'We
have heard that a half million children have died… I mean,
that's more than died in Hiroshima. And – and you know, is
the price worth it?'

To
which Madeleine Albright replied, 'I think this is a very
hard choice, but the price -- we think the price is worth
it.'

There
is no better example of the enemy's total disregard for 'us'
than recent events in Libya. The most prosperous and stable
country on the African continent was bombed to a point of
total destruction of its physical environment, economy and
social fabric, and then following the globally televised
murder of the leader, left to dwell in pure chaos and
misery. In the space of 24 hours, the corporate and
mainstream media went from 24 hour coverage to zero
coverage. They turned off their cameras so that the world
would not see the ensuing bloodbath, as the racist and
fascist Salafists, who had been handed power by NATO,
continued on their murderous rampage of ethnic and
ideological cleansing. Intellectuals, religious leaders,
Black Libyans and all those who dared to openly support the
Al Fateh revolution were rounded up, imprisoned, tortured
and murdered – and not a word from NATO countries about the
human rights they pretended to cherish while they savagely
bombed this defiant African nation.

One
only has to look back on the days of what the enemy has
termed the 'Arab Spring' to understand how sinister and
sophisticated their plans for domination really are. They
quite clearly have a contingency plan for every eventuality
and so, when they need to support a repressive regime such
as Ben Ali in Tunisia or Mubarak in Egypt they do so, when
that is no longer working, they can switch gear within hours
to support the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi electoral
outfits, despite the fact that only yesterday they were
raging against them. The only thing that matters is that
they remain at the top of the global pyramid, exerting total
control. There are many, who for years, have discarded such
ideas as the ranting of whacky conspiracy theorists,
however, it is now becoming crystal clear for all to see
that the unfolding of global events is not taking place as a
result of 'shared interests converging in some ad hoc
manner', but rather is part of a carefully planned strategy.
Of course, there are random events that occur which are
beyond anybody's control, such as the Tunisian vegetable
seller, Muhammad Bouazizi, setting himself on fire in
protest at his harassment by Tunisian local authorities, but
let us not be confused by random events that occur. It is
important to note that those that are manipulating world
events have contingency plans for every conceivable series
of events and outcomes. As soon as the rebellion in Tunisia
and Egypt started, they swung into gear, launching plan B to
either co-opt and/or destabilize the rebellions. They would
support any commotion – even an al Qaeda inspired and led
takeover of Libya, as long as they remain in control.

Confusion Reigns
Even amongst so-called anti-imperialist and 'revolutionary'
organizations and personalities, confusion reigns. They
shout 'revolution' as soon as they see a rebellion, failing
to realize that all rebellions are not revolutions and some,
as in the case of Libya and more recently Syria, are simply
imperialist orchestrated 'rebel commotion'. Revolutions do
not happen without a revolutionary theory and revolutionary
organization. In the absence of these weapons, and indeed,
revolutionary theory, consciousness and organization are
weapons, confusion, co-option and chaos are easy to
establish. In an alliance with the powerful corporate media
and local players, commotion of a destabilizing nature is
all around us. In such circumstances, as we have witnessed
over the past 18 months, if we are not careful we can lose
our bearings. Sadly many progressive and so-called
anti-imperialists figures fell for the bait and found
themselves on the same side as NATO and the Salafists.

For
the past decades, since the end of the so-called Cold War,
as the single global super-power, the US and their European
allies have enjoyed unfettered access to Africa, however,
with the rise of China as a powerful economic player, and
their own deepening economic crisis and decline, they are
once again on the offensive, determined that they will
maintain sole control over Africa by whatever means
necessary. Muammar Qaddafi and the Libyan Jamahiriya were
major obstacles to their plan. Qaddafi had the ability to
provide financial assistance to African countries, and his
vision of African unity was fast gaining momentum, Qaddafi
and Libya's prosperity and capability to lead the charge
towards African liberation had to be eliminated. No one was
more aware of their nefarious agenda than the Brother-Leader
himself. His last message to the peoples of Africa stated:

'The
fight, if it is not won in Libya, will be coming to you.
Prepare for it. Prepare traps for the invaders. You must
defend your corners…Do not let them use you. Be united.
Build your defenses for they are coming if they manage to
pass Libya.'

Since
the overthrow of the Libyan revolution, The United States
Africa Command (AFRICOM), set up to facilitate US military
intervention in Africa has, as expected, stepped up its
activity throughout the continent. Muammar Qaddafi was
totally opposed to AFRICOM and all it stood for. His ability
to influence other African governments meant that not a
single African country had allowed AFRICOM to establish a
military base on their soil, which was what AFRICOM had set
out to do. As a result of this unanimous rejection by
African nation-states, AFRICOM was forced to establish its
headquarters in Germany. This was a humiliating defeat for
the US led mission to militarily occupy Africa.

AFRICOM - a creature of US imperialism - is modeled after
the infamous School of the Americas, where military
training, including instruction on torture techniques, was
provided to the military and paramilitary personnel of the
most vicious of Central and South American dictatorships.
The objective was to build their capacity to fight US
imperialist conflicts and achieve the imperialist's outcomes
throughout the Americas, without having to deploy US troops.
This partnership with compliant South American countries
meant that citizens of the South, rather than US citizens,
could fight and die to further US objectives in the region.
Likewise, AFRICOM already has Ugandan, Rwandan, Kenyan,
Ethiopian and Somali troops fighting to achieve the US
agenda in Somalia. We have witnessed the hideous Youtube
campaign, known as Kony 2012, which was a crude attempt to
win support for US military advisors and troops to be
deployed in central Africa. Kony 2012 is also part of
imperialism's ongoing attempt to control and co-opt the
internet however, it was a dismal failure. In fact, due to
the huge number of comments ridiculing this pitiful attempt
to establish a credible cover for the US military being on
the ground in Africa, an order was given from somewhere to
disable the comments to avoid further embarrassment. So,
although this social experiment using the internet failed
dismally, in the midst of the Kony madness, Obama authorized
100 US troops to be deployed to central Africa to ostensibly
assist in the US created mythical struggle against Joseph
Kony – yet another African bogeyman. The imperialists are
tightening their military grasp on Africa. In fact, military
intervention is clearly the preferred method.

Control or Kill – that is the Question?
The second form of warfare, psychological warfare, is
becoming a more difficult option, posing many challenges in
a world connected by internet and social media. The enemy is
clearly aware of this. In a recent address, the Hon.
Minister Louis Farrakhan once again reminded us that we need
to listen carefully to the enemy because they are crystal
clear regarding their plans for our continued enslavement.
Minister Farrakhan quoted the infamous speech given by
Zbigniew Brzezinski, to a gathering of British elites in
London on November 17, 2008.

Brzezinski was national security advisor in the Carter
administration. He is also a founding member of the
Trilateral Commission, which is a think tank set up to
increase co-operation between the US, Europe and Japan with
the aim of furthering their domination of world affairs, and
is highly influential in the Obama administration. He had
this to say on what he termed, 'the global political
awakening'.

'This
is a truly transformative event on the global scene, namely
that for the first time in human history… almost all of
mankind is politically awake, activated, politically
conscious and interactive. There are only a few pockets of
humanity, here or there, in the remotest corners of the
world, which are not politically alert and interactive with
the political turmoil and stirrings and aspirations around
the world, and all of that is creating a worldwide surge in
the quest for personal dignity and cultural respect, in a
diversified world sadly accustomed for many centuries to
domination of one portion of the world by another.

That
is an enormous change and beyond that is the interacting of
a further change, namely in the distribution of global
power. It pertains to some of the obvious of which we are
aware but which it is important to register, namely that we
are living in a time of the basic shift away from the 500
years long global domination by the Atlantic powers. It is
the countries that have been located on the shores of the
Atlantic ocean, and let's recall them, Portugal, Spain,
France, the Netherlands, Great Britain and more recently the
United States that have dominated world affairs and that
shift now is taking us towards Asia. It is not the end of
the preeminence of the Atlantic world but it is now the
surfacing of the Pacific region, most notably Japan, the
number two economic power and China, an assertive global
power that is now occupying a pre-eminent place in the
global hierarchy, and of course, beyond them, there is
India's future development, though it is currently still in
the wings, and it is also complicated by the re-appearance
of Russia which is still restless, rather unclear about its
own definition, very un-definite about its recent past and
very insecure about its place in the world… these new and
old major powers face still yet another novel reality, in
some respects unprecedented, and it is that, while the
lethality of their power is greater than ever, their
capacity to impose control over the politically awakened
masses of the world is at a historical low.

I once
put it rather pungently and I was flattered that the British
foreign secretary repeated this as follows: namely in
earlier times it was easier to control a million people,
literally it was easier to control a million people than
physically to kill a million people. Today it is infinitely
easier to kill a million people than to control a million
people. It is easier to kill than to control…'

Here
it is – the chilling plan – easier to kill than to control –
a clear picture of the era that is before us. And I can
guarantee that Brzezinski and his kind have a plan – the
question is do we?

Notice
that nowhere in Brzezinski's speech is there any mention of
'us' – of those of us that dwell in the parts of the world
that the imperialists continue to wrangle over and dominate.
We are treated as nothing – expendable - not even worth a
mention. The Trilateralists are very different from the
crude Neo-Cons. Their plans for global domination are much
slicker. Where the Neo-Cons support direct military
intervention, the Trilateralists are among those who believe
that it is smarter and more effective to pit us against each
other, and to ensure that we fight the wars on their behalf.
While Brzezinski welcomes the Russians back onto the world
stage, and acknowledges China's rise in a seemingly friendly
way, behind the rhetoric is a plan to directly counter China
and Russia's global power, ensuring the continuity of West
European/American dominance. Hence, Brzezinski and his kind
would rather see us embroiled in conflict and turmoil,
fighting each other, and where possible, use this chaos to
their advantage in their battle to counter the growing
influence of China and Russia.

'Era of the Masses'
Muammar Qaddafi predicted this moment in history many years
before Brzezinski and his cohorts. Even progressive
commentators and intellectuals speak about the current
awakening of the masses without referring to The Green Book.
As far back as 1975, when the Green Book was first
published, Qaddafi spoke about the 'era of the masses',
describing it as a time 'rapidly advancing towards us to
overtake the era of republics', an era that would 'excite
the emotions and dazzle the eyes'. However, he also realized
that it would usher in a dangerous time, where we may find
ourselves teetering on the brink of disaster. He sounded
this warning: 'But in as much as it heralds the advent of
real freedom for the masses and the blissful emancipation
from the chains of all instruments of government, it is also
the harbinger of a chaotic and tumultuous era. If the new
democracy, the authority of the people, were to suffer a
relapse, such an era would bring back autocracy…'

Qaddafi the visionary was able to comprehend the movement of
history and the spirit of time, always believing that the
present era represents a turning point in humanity's
history, heralding the great awakening of the masses – both
men and women moving forward together to shape history and
social evolution.

Revolution or Commotion and Chaos?
Leaders from Marcus Garvey to Muammar Qaddafi have warned us
over and over that we will continue to be condemned to the
imperialist's genocidal policies and domination until we are
able to unite and set our own agenda. We must have zero
tolerance of those amongst us who continue to be manipulated
to serve the interests of and achieve the very outcomes laid
out for us by our enemies. Even this historical moment,
which Brzezinski describes as a truly transformative event
on the global scene and what he rightly terms a 'global
political awakening', will be of no use to us without some
level of clarity and unity of purpose.

The
objective of psych-ops is to defeat us mentally – to
convince us of the invincibility of Euro/American
domination. This forces us into an acceptance of the
inevitability of being relegated to nothing more than
collateral damage in a battle between powerful global
forces. The aim is to make us feel completely disempowered
and impotent in the face of this leviathan, which destroys
entire nation-states that stand in its way with its
foreboding military might, and parades the televised murder
of our leaders before us with impunity. Amos Wilson
explains:

'The
European inhabits only a small part of this globe. The parts
of the globe that the European occupies are relatively
resourceless when compared to those occupied by non-European
people. And yet, the European is saddled with great wealth,
economic and political power. He controls the globe and
maintains the world in a state of terror, and has the earth
now on the brink of suicide. We must question how is it that
a minority people, a very small percentage of mankind, a
people who are essentially resourceless in terms of their
natural resources, maintain the power they have. Why is it
that the people whose lands contain the wealth of the earth
are the poorest people? Why is it that Afrika with some
twenty (20) or thirty (30) strategic metals that make the
space age possible – why is it that the image of Africa is
projected at us time and time again as that of starving
children, as societies in disorder, as societies on the
verge of disaster?

This
implies, to my mind, that there must exist, a political and
social situation wherein the mental orientation of our
people must be so structured, that the power and ability of
the Europeans to rule this earth are continually maintained…
The imperialistic European must essentially function in a
very devilish fashion. That is, in a fashion that uses
deception as its major characteristic. Consequently,
fundamental values and ways of seeing reality must be
reversed. The good must appear to be the bad, the light
dark. Truth must be taken for the lie; the lie for truth.
Otherwise a small group, such as European people could not
continue to keep the rest of the world out of its mind. The
European hegemonic establishment must project false and
injurious ideologies that are accepted by its victims.'

Imperialism can only be buried in Africa…
In an earlier article, I invoked as its title Sekou Toure's
bold assertion: that imperialism will be buried in Africa.
From a Eurocentric perspective that might have seemed
optimistic, and indeed some commentators asserted that it
was not grounded in reality and that we were, if anything,
being crushed by imperialism's might. However, looking at it
from a revolutionary Pan-African perspective one simply sees
it as inevitable. Actually, imperialism can only be defeated
in Africa. Although there is a revolutionary fightback
globally and most notably throughout South America, it is
only when Africa is finally free and regains its sovereignty
that imperialism in its current form can be buried, since it
is Africa that fuels the space age. The onus is on
revolutionary Pan-African organizations and movements, on
the continent and in the Diaspora, to provide clear analysis
and strategies that are capable of thwarting the enemies'
plans at every point in the evil axis of Euro/American
imperialism, Saudi and Qatari sponsored Salafism parading as
Islam, and the neo-colonial regimes in Africa and the
Diaspora. There is no room for weakness, ineffective ways of
operating that drain our resources and fail time and time
again to achieve results. There is no room or time for
indecision leading to inaction.

We must bury
imperialism in Africa or we will surely perish.

In a
recent interview with The Southern Times, veteran African
freedom fighter and former president of Namibia, Sam Nujoma,
was extremely critical of the African Union's weakness,
stating that they 'had woefully failed to mobilize
militarily to stop the bombing of Libya and that the African
Union should have mobilized their forces in order to fight
and defend the territorial integrity of Libya.'

He
offered the following advice on confronting what he
identified as a new scramble for Africa: 'Africans should
talk war – the language best understood by Western
countries…The imperialists understand no other words than
fighting. We dislodged them from our continent by fighting
them. If we did not fight in Namibia or in Zimbabwe or
elsewhere, we would not be free today. We must now prepare
to fight them again…'

Nujoma
stated that Africa's sovereignty was not up for debate and
called upon the youth of Africa, to prepare themselves to
fight and defend the continent.

Black Power – African Power
It is only with access to Africa's resources, that modern
day empires, fuelled by industrialized and high-tech
economies, can be built. Even Arab countries, such as Saudi
Arabia and Qatar, are in the scramble for African lands to
grow food for their populations, and African resources to
fuel their economies. The Lebanese, Saudis, Qataris and
Israeli's are among those that rival the Europeans in their
plunder of Africa's wealth. It came as no surprise that it
was the Lebanese who assisted the French to draft the
so-called 'No-Fly Zone' resolution which spelled Libya's
destruction. The same Lebanese, who now so hypocritically
recognize Syria's plight in the face of groups of Salafi
terrorists being armed, trained and organized by the NATO
member states, and are calling for no outside intervention
with an agenda for regime change in Syria. The only Arab
nations to oppose NATO's invasion of Libya were Algeria,
Syria and Mauritania.

Qaddafi's plans for Africa were inimical to the Lebanese and
other Arab business interests on the continent. Like their
European counterparts, they simply could not afford a united
and independent Africa.

Libyan Popular National Movement (LPNM)
The fight back is on and intensifying in every region of
Libya. The NTC is definitely not in control, and faces a
well coordinated armed rebellion on a daily basis. Qaddafi
loyalists have launched the Libyan Popular National
Movement, which embodies the principles of the Al Fateh
revolution and draws on 40 years of experience in struggle
against imperialism, pseudo-Islam and neo-colonialism. Its
leader, Qweldi al Hamedi, was one of the original members of
the Free Unionist Officers that toppled the pro-western
monarchy of King Idris back in 1969. He lost his pregnant
daughter-in-law and three of his grandchildren when his home
was bombed by NATO. This man, like Muammar Qaddafi and
Abubakr Younis Jabr, is a man of steel. Prior to the NATO
invasion, Qweldi al Hamedi was semi-retired, and now in his
70s, after losing so many of his family members, is once
again in the trenches. As revolutionary Pan-Africanists, we
must give unwavering support to the Libyan Popular National
Movement, the natural heir of the Al Fateh Revolution.

Axis of Evil:
Imperialists, Neo-Colonial Regimes and Salafists

Imperialism and its neo-colonial client regimes have been
written about extensively and are old members of this axis.
Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah provided us with a masterful analysis
of neo-colonialism in Africa in his book Neo-colonialism:
The Last Stage of Imperialism.

Pretenders to Islam
The Salafists are a less understood and recent member of
this most unholy of alliances. While we were sleeping, these
religious charlatans were quietly stealing the minds of
large numbers of Muslim youth throughout Africa and the Arab
region. It was not a difficult task. The Salafists had, and
continue to receive massive financial backing to the tune of
millions from the medieval Wahhabi creatures in Saudi Arabia
and Qatar. This allowed them to prey on the disillusioned
and poverty stricken youths throughout the continent and the
Arabian Peninsula. They seduced the poorest of them with
scholarships, covering all costs, to Salafi infested
institutions, where they have been and continue to be,
indoctrinated with a simplistic, puritanical and one
dimensional view of Islam and the world. The Salafis offer
themselves to the Muslim Ummah as the sole solution to the
crisis of modernity and secularism. This is opium for the
people, especially the youth. It appeals to the poor and
marginalized who have little or no education. It also
appeals to youth from the wealthier middle-classes, who are
completely disaffected by the hypocrisy and double standards
of their parents' generation – a generation which they
perceive as having 'sold out' to the West, which entailed
abandoning their Islamic values. To these youths, the
Salafists seem to be the only ones talking militancy and
offering a tangible solution.

This
is not the first time we have witnessed the emergence of
such movements. In recent history, we have observed the
emergence of fascist movements, which in all their
tendencies, offer simplistic and puritanical solutions to
the crisis of capitalism and existing political systems, and
prey on the disillusionment, disenfranchisement and fear of
the masses, especially the youth. We have also seen deviant
religious ideas used as a weapon during slavery, throughout
the colonial project and in Apartheid South Africa, to name
a few examples.

The
Salafists have become imperialism's shock troops - foot
soldiers doing their dirty work. It is no accident that
Ansar Dine has emerged out of the blue to challenge the
revolutionary nationalist and Islamic MNLA in Mali, while in
Nigeria, Boko Haram is well funded and armed to wage war
against the Nigerian state, bombing Christian churches and
killing Muslims who do not adhere to their Salafist
doctrine, and all the while shouting Allahu Akhbar.
Throughout the continent, Salafism is on the rise, posing a
serious threat to the Pan-African struggle for the
liberation of Africa and the creation of a United States.

As I
write, the Salafist Ansar Dine which is linked to Al Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) are destroying historical
religious and cultural artifacts in Timbuktu, on the grounds
that they are somehow un-Islamic. An observer aptly referred
to them as 'madmen with guns'. Let us be clear, that in
order to defeat these enemies of Islam, Africa and humanity,
we have to wage war against them on every front, including
in the realm of theology and ideas. The battle of ideas is
crucial, since it is the hearts and minds of the youth that
have been captivated. It is important to understand that
these pretenders to Islam are not revolutionaries but are
rather reactionaries in the true sense – both racist and
fascist; they are not rebels but are actually
counter-revolutionaries, with little or no understanding of
Islam. For them Islam and Arab culture is one and the same
thing. They are religious deviants, preaching a false and
misguided theology, in order to achieve their objective,
which is to subvert Islam and dominate the Ummah. This is
not a new battle but is a battle that has been waged since
the time of the Prophet and before. The Salafists' objective
is to ensure that Islam is stripped of its revolutionary
essence and reduced to a mere ritualistic/legalistic
doctrine and practice, which will no longer challenge the
existing order. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist
parties are no threat to western economic and geo-political
interests in the region and globally. Their electoral
outfits, wherever they assume political office, will
implement neo-liberal economic policies and will manage the
'free market' economy with an 'Islamic' veneer.

Zia-ul-Haq (not the former president of Pakistan, but the
Muslim scholar) showed how the early conflicts in the Muslim
world shaped the Wahhabi/Salafi mindset:

'After
the civil wars and counter revolution of the Umayyads, the
revolutionary principles of Salat, Jihad, Zakat etc, were
all reinterpreted in a feudal framework. Feudalism
reasserted itself when under monarchy and autocracy, feudal
social and economic relationships of master and slave, lord
and serf, king and his subjects replaced the pristine
revolutionary principles of justice and social
equality…feudal Islam was a political instrument to enslave
the broad masses in the name of pristine Islam…Feudal Islam
was thus a negation of the Qu'ranic Islam, the Islam of the
prophet-revolutionaries, the Islam which was synonymous with
truth, justice, social equality, sincerity and humility.'

Qaddafi knew them well. In the early 70s he spoke of this
ongoing battle:

'As
the Muslims have strayed far from Islam, a review is
demanded. The Libyan revolution is a revolution for
rectifying Islam, presenting Islam correctly, purifying
Islam of the reactionary practices which dressed it in
retrograde clothing not its own.'

'Soon
we'll find out who is the real revolutionaries cos I don't
want my people to be tricked by mercenaries…'

As
revolutionary Pan-Africanists, we must heed the call of
Nigeria's African Renaissance Party and join with them in
applying pressure on the African Union not to recognize the
NTC racists in Libya. We must also put pressure on African
governments in the Caribbean to do the same. We must, as
Qaddafi implored us in his final message - 'hold down our
corner'. We need to make sure that wherever we are, the
battle against these enemies of humanity is raging. As the
brothers and sisters of the Pan-African Society Community
Forum stated, 'African neo-colonial agents of imperialism
have no strategic power. They have no economic or financial
power, which therefore means that they have no strategic
political power. Whilst they have a degree of operational
powers, they are under the total strategic control of their
racist masters; they're active tools of imperialism's racist
agenda as well as its economic one. The racism of the
imperialist system is still present, but the role of the
African neo-colonial agents is disguising it at the point of
conflict.'

Qaddafism – Out of Africa
I believe that those who are committed to the unification
and total liberation of Africa must understand and grasp
Qaddafism, the revolutionary theory and practice of the Al
Fateh revolution of 1969. It is a theory of revolution
capable of ushering in a new era of popular democracy in
Africa. In the words of Qaddafi himself, 'democracy can only
occur when power, wealth and arms are in the hands of the
African people'. Presently none of these are in our hands,
and the ludicrous mimicry of the western parliamentary
system parading as democracy is obsolete. If we are to
succeed in our protracted struggle against imperialism,
neo-colonialism and religious deviationism, we must have a
revolutionary theory that provides us with the tools to
combat Africa's enemies, while also providing us with the
guidelines for social, economic and political reconstruction
on our own terms.

Qaddafism and its concept of a Jamahiriya which means 'State
of the Masses' was developed under African skies, by a
Bedouin, who was able to create a system that embraced the
values, traditions and entire way of life/culture of the
people it was designed to govern. It is, in every sense of
the word, a political theory and system of governance
indigenous to Africa. It offers an Afrocentric alternative
to the two Eurocentric paradigms that have been dominant
globally in this epoch, that is, Liberal Capitalism and
Marxism.

Qaddafism addresses the problems confronting Africa as a
result of the imposition of alien ideologies and political
systems, in that it gives us a political theory and practice
that is wholly applicable to Africa and the African psyche.
What makes Qaddafism unique is that unlike so many great
thinkers to have emerged from the global south, there are no
traces of Marxism or any other European revolutionary ideas
lingering in Qaddafi's political thought. Those who disagree
with this premise need to examine the history of Islam
during the period of the Prophet Muhammad and before, and
the history, culture and indigenous political systems of
Africa. It is clear from such research that Qaddafi's
socialism and concept of popular democracy are rooted in the
ancient democratic practices of Africa and early Islam,
which are far older than any Greek and European notions of
democracy and European versions of socialism.

This
is why there are so many challenges faced by those of us who
have been involved in the dissemination of the ideas
contained in The Green Book, and the attempt inside Libya to
put these ideas into practice. It is important to understand
that any attempt by any non-western leader to develop and
articulate a political theory which is outside western
intellectual tradition and paradigms, is unacceptable in the
halls of western academia and political circles, and
unfortunately many of our academics are still tangled up in
these circles and influenced by them. Non-western political
thought is frowned upon, and only those scholars whose works
are shaped by Enlightenment ideologies such as Liberalism
and Marxism are given any serious consideration. Hence, the
deliberate marginalization and ridicule of Qaddafism and The
Third Universal Theory by Eurocentric academics, political
philosophers and activists is to be expected.

There
can be no doubt that one of the gravest enemies of Africa
has been the imposition of European materialist ideologies
and political systems – whether they emanate from right or
left. Africa's true liberation cannot occur unless we free
ourselves from this 'conceptual incarceration'. We must move
beyond 'multi-partyism' and 'electocracy' parading as
democracy. We must reject the criminal and fraudulent
neo-liberal economic policies that have been imposed on us
with the full complicity of African neo-colonial regimes.
Also, we must reject Marxist 'solutions' as yet another
imposition of an alien ideology.

Another important factor in the negation of Qaddafi's ideas
in western circles, and sadly in some non-western circles
still influenced by western thought, is that secular
European discourse is unable to comprehend an ideology such
as the Third Universal Theory, precisely because this
ideology acknowledges the transcendental and metaphysical
dimension of human civilization and existence. However, it
is this very aspect of the ideology that provides us with an
alternative model for social and political reconstruction
and transformation in synergy with our culture and
traditions, which for Africans is deeply rooted in the
metaphysical and transcendental.

This
is why the rejection of Marxism being applied as a theory of
social change in Africa is as inevitable as our rejection of
the Liberal/Capitalist paradigm. However, the rejection of
Marxism is not yet accepted by all Pan-Africanists, despite
the fact that many of our greatest African thinkers have
lamented the fact that Marxism is fundamentally at odds with
African culture and thinking and therefore doomed to fail as
a solution to Africa's crisis.

Oba
T'Shaka, puts it this way: 'While Marxism represents western
man's best attempt to formulate a just system of thought and
a conception of the just society in the modern world, the
fundamental flaw of Marxism is its western
orientation…precisely because Marxism is a product of the
European mind and the European worldview, it accepts the
Greek notion that 'nothing can give rise from nothing'.
Marxism is rooted squarely in a western materialistic
paradigm, which regards the invisible or the spiritual as
superstitious...this is a fundamental flaw in Marxism
because it denies our humanity, which is tied to a spiritual
– physical – spiritual – material unity and synthesis. Only
when man and woman as physical beings aspire to be better
spiritually can we become truly human. The inability of
Marxism to deal with the invisible spiritual is the central
reason why western Marxism has not even offered a conception
of a just human being. Marxism simply proposes that somehow
human beings will be better if the goods are equally
distributed. Here Marxism is only partially correct.'

In
contrast, Qaddafism is a holistic paradigm incorporating the
theological, philosophical, political, economic, legal and
scientific principles, all inter-related. As such, it
represents an ideological paradigm that is applicable to
Africa and indeed other parts of the global south.

Molefi
Kete Asante explains another fundamental aspect of Marxism
that places it at odds with the African psyche:

'Marxism over-simplifies the significance of our history… In
some ways Marxism acts on the same Eurocentric basis as
Capitalism because for both, life is economics… The
class-warrior attitude dominates the thinking of Marxists
and capitalists. It is a war of class against class, group
against group, and individual against individual…Marxism's
base is antithetical to the African concept of society. Life
for the Afrocentric person is organic and harmonious…
However, the Marxist view of life is as competitive as that
of the capitalist, since both are rooted in Eurocentric
materialism.'

Qaddafism on the other hand rejects the notion of
class-warfare and sees the aim of the nation as an integral
whole striving for harmony, which must not be fragmented or
socially stratified along class, tribal, ethnic or partisan
lines. It is a 'party-less' system because the political
party is seen as an instrument which fragments and divides
the society.

As
Yahaya Ndu of the African Renaissance Party of Nigeria said
recently:

'The
western world has through the systems of government that it
has forced upon Africa today put the whole continent in
collective amnesia, which has rendered the continent totally
stultified to such an extent that it is incapable of doing
anything about its sorry state. Unless and until Africans
can return to their own form of democratic governance there
can be no salvation for her and her peoples.'

He
goes on to state that, 'Historical revelations point to the
fact that democracy was practiced in Igboland of Nigeria
long before it found its way to Greece and that western
visitors to Igboland strikingly discovered the extent to
which democracy was truly practiced.' He cites a number of
academics and historians who saw the Igbo political culture
as, in their words 'ultra democratic in its values and
having no hierarchical type of political organization'. Ndu
concludes it was 'this political climate or tradition that
gave everyone who cared, the opportunity to mobilize and
distinguish him or herself'. In other words, it was a model
of direct and 'party-less' democracy which can be traced, in
its various forms, to many parts of the African continent.
It is this same concept that was implemented in the Libyan
Jamahiriya, where 'everyone who cared' was able to fully
participate in making the decisions that affected their
lives through a network of People's Congresses and Popular
Committees.

We are
oppressed by the enemies military and economic might.
However, both their military and economic might would have
been humbled if only we were not still captivated by and
adopting alien ideologies and political systems, that have
stood in the way of our total liberation for so long. It is
imperative that we free ourselves from these ideologies and
the neo-colonial regimes that foster this mindset. The
struggle must be intensified against this axis of evil on
every front, and most importantly at the battlefront of
ideas. For, if we do not free ourselves mentally, then I
fear that we will fight these same battles many times over
and not see the change we fight for. Unfortunately many more
lives will be lost before we realize that one of the most
potent weapons in our arsenal lies, in the words of Amilcar
Cabral, in our 'return to the source'.

Gerald A. Perreira is a founding member of the Guyanese
organizations Joint Initiative for Human Advancement and
Dignity and Black Consciousness Movement Guyana (BCMG). He
lived in Libya for many years, served in the Green March, an
international battalion for the defense of the Al Fateh
revolution and was an executive member of the World Mathaba
based in Tripoli.

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